Microservices

Introduction

Every application is built and developed based on a wireframe or structural framework. This is what we popularly call architecture, which comprises different segments. Each segment is further dedicated to a specific domain of the application, like information system and flow, server side rendering, and many more. Most applications based on legacy systems or the ones developed at least a decade back are based on monolithic architecture. In other words, the entire framework of the software is unified, without any specific independence of the sub-domains.

While it is the most conventional architecture, monolithic software lacks the flexibility and scalability required to deploy changes swiftly. If a change has to be introduced in one domain, it can have an adverse impact on all other concerning domains due to a lack of independent functioning. This is where the concept of microservice architecture comes into play. In this following article, we will talk about the fundamental concepts of microservice architecture, including the benefits, use cases, and technologies used for implementation.

What is microservice architecture?

As the name suggests, a microservice architecture comprises of several small-scale services that:

1. Operate independently
2. Can be deployed easily and faster
3. Loosely coupled with one another
4. Under the control of a small team

In other words, we can define a microservice architecture as a collection of different services responsible for handling each functional vertical for meeting business requirements with ease. A typical architecture based on microservices will comprise the following tiers:

1. Platform: It defines all the tools and the entire application infrastructure that need to be developed for completing the business requirement list. It can be a simple UI navigation or the communication framework between the server side of the software and the database.
2. Services: The architecture will include various services that interact with one another to fulfill the business capabilities and make the software functional.
3. Boundary: It is supposedly the threshold point that the client can view and use to access the backend or underlying technicalities of the concerned software.
4. Client: Any application interface open to the end users can be considered as the client, like APIs, mobile apps, and many more. The interaction between the client and boundary is established using a set of requests and responses fired from a third-party application.

Benefits of an architecture based on microservices

There are numerous benefits of implementing a microservice architecture over the conventional monolithic one. To make the decision easier for you, we have explained some of the advantages in brief here.

1. Each microservice functions independently of one another, regardless of how many services are involved with the overall architecture. So, it is much easier to scale them without having to plan the deployment from scratch or modifying all the service modules.
2. Identifying the errors or faults in a monolithic or integrated architecture is not easy, owing to the higher level of complexity. Therefore, implementing microservice architecture seems to be a better option since here, developers can isolate the functioning modules to find the root cause of the error being encountered.
3. Microservice architecture is also known for faster deployment, thanks to the possibility of integration with containers. In fact, implementing DevOps strategies to automate the deployment pipelines is possible here.
4. Most developers tend to design a microservice architecture in a way that the independent services can be reused further. In other words, they won’t have to orchestrate the service frameworks multiple times with different codebases only for deploying minor changes.
5. An application developed on microservice architecture has the upper hand of faster time to market, thanks to the ease of development, testing, and deployment to the live environment.

Technologies used to build a microservice architecture

1. Kubernetes and Docker are used to automate package deployment pipelines and streamline the entire process.
2. REST is also used to integrate RESTful API requests and responses and build the communication channel between the client and boundary.
3. Redis is another modern-time technology used for implementing microservice architecture since it helps in optimizing various data layers involved with the software.

What are a few use cases of a microservice architecture?

Microservice architecture can be implemented for various use cases in the real-time, including:

1. Updating legacy systems with modern-day, scalable framework
2. Aligning deployment strategies with DevOps pipelines
3. Utilizing the cloud models for SaaS and IaaS

Conclusion

In this article, we have explained what microservice architecture is and how it triumphs over the conventional monolithic system. Investing in this new concept might seem to be time-consuming at first, but with proper skills and a strong plan, developing lightweight, scalable, and flexible apps won’t be much difficult.